"Are you eating snow?"

Marathons are 80% mental and 20% physical, this was what I told myself as I headed out the door at 6:30am to run 18 solo miles. It is great to have buddies on the long runs, the miles just tick by but sometimes things come up and we have to go solo. I think the solo runs are just as good training as the long mile runs for me. It's good for me to have push myself out the door and run for hours alone. I definitely spent time thinking about this blog, about Boston, about how my baby turned 4 today. It actually really made want to get home and to run a little bit faster wanting to get home to my sweet birthday girl. I also thought about the day she was born. I went out for my morning walk, it was beautiful, sunny and blue skies. I got to the corner at the end of the street, about 2 minutes in my walk when I thought I peed my pants. So I went home changed and back out I went. Had to get that 30 minute walk in. (Sound familiar?!!) When I got back to our apartment it seemed as though I had peed my pants again, but the smell (sorry probably too much information) was not that of pee. I called Ale around 8:30, at 11 I was at the doctors and by 1:00 I was at the hospital and by 8:30pm she was born! It all happened very fast, labor and delivery. I think giving birth for me without any medicine (I was begging for them in the delivery room but they said, sorry, now you just have to push.) made me realize I do have a high pain threshold. I compartmentalize the pain, "this is just pain, this is just pain." Maybe it's a good thing or maybe not but it helps in marathonning to be able to do that for me anyway. Sorry about the long winded story but it's all interconnected, especially today when I celebrate my daughter's life and I went on a 2 hour run that was crazy hilly! For you locals reading this, I did the two hills on North West and climbed up to the Granville border on the first lap and then did the baracos route for the 2nd lap. I worked hard today on listening to my body. I took goo at 1:02 minutes and then again at 1:48 minutes. The wind picked up and I was tired so I decided to take it again about 15 minutes earlier than I had planned. I had water out only at one place so I made the decision to eat snow. Made sense at the time. Take goo, grab a handful of white snow, crunchy but cold and keep running. Of course as I am doing this, I see a car slow down to a stop. A friend who I've known since middle school but probably only see 1 or 2 times a year, rolls down the window, "oh hey annie, wait, are you eating snow???" , "umm, I'm refueling." I tried saying it without cracking up laughing but then I realized how ridiculous I looked in my reflector vest, in a snow bank eating snow and burst out laughing too. Of course he was taunting me with his fresh bagels doughnuts but I resisted and off I went. I had 3.5 miles to go and thankfully after a moment to laugh with a friend I settled back into pace and felt good. I focused on moving my arms and relaxing my shoulders. I pictured the finish line. I got back to my car and was so thankful for two bottles of cold water, sunshine and the fact that I was done with a challenging long run. 18 miles done, hoping to go for the big 2-0 next week! I am getting so excited for Boston. Nervous but excited to get to that start line and soak it all in. It's just so fun!